It is desirable to manufacture dehydrated vegetables having excellent taste and texture properties. Such dehydrated vegetables may for example be used as a filling or topping component in food products such as pies, pizza, flans and snackfoods.
It is a common problem with such filled food products that the moisture content of the filling component adversely affects the casing or base component of the food product during storage via moisture migration into the casing or base.
However conventional dehydrated vegetables are not a suitable alternative to fresh vegetables for use as the filling component because conventional dehydrated vegetables have undesirable taste and texture properties and require rehydration prior to use.
Furthermore it is desirable to be able to produce accurately moulded complex shaped vegetable products (eg. 3D shaped products and products having complex geometrical shapes). However such products have not been possible to date without the addition of an edible glue, eg. starch. Such glues have a detrimental effect on the product quality.
We have been able to solve the above-mentioned problems by producing dehydrated vegetables having excellent taste and texture properties. Such dehydrated vegetable may advantageously be used as a filling component or as a binder in moulded products. JP1-101846 describes a method of manufacturing a dried potato snack food: the potato portions are steamed for 15 seconds; dehydrated using a far infra-red (5.8-1000 micron wavelength) drying unit for 35 mintues; and crisped on the surface by near infra-red heaters for 1 minute. The long exposure to far infra-red radiation for 35 minutes results in a substantially dehydrated potato portion which is suitable for a snack food, but is not suitable as a filling component or as a binder in moulded products.